Tea and Temptation
by Gabbitha
Summary: Continues a few days after the end of The Shadow Cabinet. The plot and romance thickens between Stephen and Rory.


Forever and Ever

It was around 8:30 am, about two days after Stephen came back (to life). I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking some hot coffee, reflecting on life itself. I was in dark tight jeans and a short sleeve shirt that was a dark red. It really complimented my skin tone and hair. Callum, Boo and Stephen were still in bed sound asleep. Thorpe and Freddie left earlier to go run some errands involving the Sid and Sadie case. Stephen would have gone with Thorpe, but after everything he deserved a few more days to rest. Plus considering Freddie's knowledge with just about everything, he figured what's the harm.

The kitchen was glowing from the way the sun was positioned through the window. It was slowly coming up as if to say hello. The light was bouncing off everything in the kitchen, making it a little hard to see. I didn't bother to move though. I was basking in the ambiance of Mother Nature's finest sunshine. In a weird way it reminded me of back home in Louisiana. How hot it was every day when I went to sit in the hammock in our backyard. Looking up at the sky, watching the birds fly over, doing homework, talking to people, sleeping, reading, even playing on my computer. I did everything there. That was my place to just get away from everything.

As I slowly exited my daydream, I added a little more cream to my coffee to mass the sour taste on my tongue. I was swirling the vanilla cream in my coffee with a spoon when I heard a door creak open, with the faint sounds of footsteps coming down the hall way. Before I even had the chance to think about who it could be, I glanced up to see Stephen standing there in the kitchen door way. The light bent around him but still managed to drowned out a little of his face. From what I could tell, he was in solid black colored pajama pants and socks, with a solid white T-shirt.

He walked in slowly without a single word and twisted the blinds in the window a little bit just enough to see. I rubbed my eyes to get rid of that faint yellow and blackish glare in my eyes from the sun. I finally stopped and looked at him. It was weird not seeing him in uniform or just regular everyday clothes.

"Morning?" he said questionably.

"Morning." I wasn't positive on what to say next. One reason is that we hadn't talked since we came back from the pub with everybody that one day. We've both been off doing our own thing. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah," he exhaled while sitting down across from me. "But no matter how much I sleep I still feel tired." He said with a blank face. "What about you? You're up awfully early. You never get up until way later."

"Yeah I couldn't really fall back asleep so there was no time like the present to get up and do something… you know?"

He nodded a few times at that comment. It broke into dead silence. When he was sitting across from me in silence. I couldn't help but notice just the small details about him that made him just the slightest bit more attractive than usual. Like the way his hair wasn't combed back all nice and neat. It was a tad bit messy yet still had that clean shine to it. Then how he didn't quite have a five o'clock shadow but it was slowly getting there. Mostly just the fact that he didn't look like Stephen: the cop, he looked like Stephen: Himself.

"Would you like something to eat?' he asked while looking at the coffee in my hands.

"No, thanks. I'm good." I said quickly with a smirk. Of course I would have died for some eggs and bacon but I didn't want to impose.

Stephen got up and started making himself a cup of tea. He prepared the kettle on the stove and waited for the loud whistle to approach. I got up a few seconds later to rinse out my coffee cup and place it in the sink. I turned around from the sink and saw him staring at me. He looked away quickly and acted like it never happened. I sort of just shrugged it off, as if he was lost in thought and it just so happen that I had been in direction he glanced off to.

"Sugar?" He asked, hesitantly looking at me again.

"…W-Wait what?!"

"Sugar. Can I have the sugar, please?"

I shook my head a little. "Oh right, yes of course." I reached behind me and grabbed the little container of sugar. Walking past the little island in the middle of the kitchen, I walked to the other side of the room and handed him the sugar. As he put out his hand it grab it our fingers touched. We looked each other in the eye for a split second, before he backed away. He took a few steps back and started leaning his back against the counter next to the stove.

"Thanks." Without turning around he placed the sugar near the stove but his eyes never left my face. "So, you still never gave me a direct answer. How was your sleep?"

"Gosh. Well I mean it was pretty good considering it's a couch, and looks like it came from IKEA. But I had this quite petrifying dream about everything that's happened to all of us in the past couple days. Just conduced down into a few hours, obviously." I stepped a few feet closer to him. To the point where our feet were practically toe-to-toe. Just so he knew it was kind of a big deal.

His face was content. "You're okay though, right?"

I shoved my hands deep in my pockets and let out a sigh. My eyes were darting from one side of the room to the other, and looked down towards our feet as if I was looking into the fiery depths of hell. I eventually looked back up and slowly shook my head. "Everything that's happened not just in the past couple of days but the last few months have been hard. It's difficult when faced with a situation you cannot control and have to admit you can do nothing to stop it." He let out the biggest sigh while running his hands through his hair.

Without even making eye contact with me, Stephen wrapped his arm around me pulling me in super close. One arm was around my shoulder and the other is gently around my waist. My head was pressed against his chest so hard I could hear how loud his heartbeat was. It sounded like it needed to be free. Not to mention his breathing was intensified. I wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Keep your head up," he exclaimed. "You are so much stronger and better then you entitle yourself to be. Even when I'm not with you in person, I'm always with you. No matter the situation. Remember that!"

I almost didn't hear what he said because my heart was beating so fast. His grip tightened around me as if I was the last thing he had and didn't want to let go. I tilted my head up a little. I assumed he felt it because he looked down at me. Even though we weren't saying anything we were saying a lot through our eyes. I hadn't felt this good and secure since we had our first kiss in his dads flat a couple nights ago. But I knew I wanted to kiss him again. I _wanted_ to… I _n__eeded_ to… I _had _to! I slowly yet hesitantly rose to my tiptoes. Our foreheads were touching each other and I could feel the small sighs and gasps of air coming out of his mouth. I stopped when our mouths were only inches away. I was going for it. I was going to close this hazards gap between us. I was leaning inwards tilting my head a little more to the right when-

_PSSSSSTOOOOOOT…! _Our heads weren't together anymore but our bodies remained close together. The teapot was done and ready to be poured. He let go of me and jolted around to turn off the stove. Stephen moved the teapot to a burner that wasn't on, grabbed a glass from the shelf above his head and placed it on the counter. I stood behind him watching him prepare his tea and even caught a glimpse of awkward eye contact with him through the reflection of the microwave. I looked away and had a face of integrity. I wasn't quite able to kiss him yet but I sure as heck was close, and that was good enough for me. Just feeling the warmth of his body against mine was sensational. Stephen I'm pretty sure was a little distracted. Judging from the amount of sugar he poured into his glass. He placed the cup aside and turned back to me. I folded my arms over my chest, nodded, gave a half smile and whispered enjoy your tea. I caught a glimpse of him over my shoulder while heading into the other room, to sit on the couch. Leaving behind thoughts that seem to be a little… quixotic.


End file.
